The Guardian announced Wednesday that they will no longer post from their editorial accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, because tech mogul Elon Musk allegedly made it a “toxic media platform.”
The outlet claimed in a Wednesday editorial that the platform contains “disturbing content” that includes so-called “conspiracy theories” and “racism.” The editorial team has decided to promote their content elsewhere to avoid Musk’s alleged ability to “shape political discourse.”
“We wanted to let readers know that we will no longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media site X (formerly Twitter),” the editorial reads. “We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere. This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.”
“The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse,” the editorial continued.
Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X https://t.co/j4fRgzSYde
— The Guardian (@guardian) November 13, 2024
The company’s staff will still be able to use X to promote their own work, and users are still permitted to post The Guardian’s content on the platform, the editorial team wrote. They alleged that X “plays a diminished role” in their goal to reach new audiences and prefers that readers obtain their content from their website.
“Social media can be an important tool for news organisations and help us to reach new audiences but, at this point, X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work. Our journalism is available and open to all on our website and we would prefer people to come to theguardian.com and support our work there,” the editorial continued.
President-elect Donald Trump’s victory led to a surge in users allegedly quitting X, most notably MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, who claimed she deleted her account as an act of “self preservation.” However, Wallace’s account appears to still exist.
Prior to Musk taking over X in April 2022, the platform locked the accounts of the New York Post and then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany shortly before the 2020 election for sharing the outlet’s reporting that contained emails allegedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop indicating that he and his father, President Joe Biden, met with a Ukrainian executive from the oil company Burisma. Musk and journalists including former Rolling Stone editor Matt Taibbi detailed how the former executives of the platform intentionally suppressed the New York Post’s report on Hunter Biden’s laptop at the behest of the FBI.
The previous executives running the platform permanently banned Trump’s account for allegedly inciting or justifying violence at the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
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